Positive Technology Journal

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Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. has developed technology that can add animated faces to instant messaging, networked gaming, and other real-time communications used on mobile phones and PCs. Oki's "FaceCommunicator" software leverages technology similar to the company's face recognition software that recognizes handhelds' owners. The technology supports Linux-based mobile phones.

FaceCommunicator is touted as useful for maintaining privacy and security during first time "face-to-face" communications over video phones, mobile phones, or in IM or chat-room chats on the Internet. In addition, the facial animations let users express emotions that might be hard to express in words, Oki says.

The technology can take advantage of four sources of user input to generate and control its transmitted animated faces - video images from PC or mobile phone cameras; voice; text; and mouse/keyboard commands.

Both the animated face and a background image can be selected by the user to suit the need of the moment. Additionally, certain of the animated faces can move their eyebrows and mouths as though talking, which adds a virtual reality dimension to communications, according to Oki.

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